Tag: Reviews - Page 37
Review Unruly Heroes - If You Loved Rayman Origins, You'll Love This
Born to be wild
Ubisoft made big waves in the industry when it released Rayman Origins, a triumphant return to the company mascot’s 2D platforming roots. Blending goofy humour with thrilling platforming sequences, it captured the hearts of millions, but perhaps the most stunning aspect of the release was the flash new engine that it ran on. UbiArt...
A bit of a drag
Inti Creates has made quite a name for itself on the Switch with quality titles like Mighty Gunvolt Burst, Blaster Master Zero, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, and Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack all offering up some excellent retro run ‘n’ gun action. Going back further, however, the company put itself on the m
Review Downwell - The Ultimate Version Of Everyone's Favourite Potholing Roguelike Shooter
Get down and TATE
Imagine for a moment that you’re taking a stroll in the countryside and you happen upon an old well – what do you do? At the very least, you wander up and take a peek; you might drop a pebble down there, or even a cheeky loogie if nobody’s around. Why? It’s tough to say exactly, but Downwell taps into that human fascination...
Review Wargroove - A Turn-Based Strategy Classic That Intelligent Systems Would Be Proud Of
Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war
Intelligent Systems has always been known for its strategy game IP, with Fire Emblem naturally being the most popular, but that esteemed series might never have made it West were it not for the more colourful and militaristic antics of the Advance Wars franchise. Unfortunately – despite its similarities to...
Review New Star Manager - Football Management At Its Most Tactile
The Jurgen Klopp of football management games
Leicester City (in 2016) and Manchester City (in 2018) are two recent Premiership-winning teams that went about their footballing business in completely different ways, and there's a neat parallel to be drawn here with New Star Manager and Football Manager 2019 Touch. Both are ostensibly playing the same...
Review Swords & Soldiers - A Blast From The Past That's Worth Plundering Again On Switch
Meat, might and marauders
If fiction has taught us anything, it’s that Vikings have all the fun. Pillaging gold. Killing enemy soldiers by the dozen. Getting drunk before, during or after said events. They’re living the reaver’s dream. So, of course, they make a fine fit for video games with their love of violence, alcohol and cooked meat –...
Review Mages of Mystralia - A Colourful Spellcasting Adventure That Just Falls Short
Spellcrafting 101
A young woman looks to the stars one night and finds herself imbued with their celestial power – so much so, in fact, that she accidentally burns her house down and must flee town as an outcast. The use of magic is banned in the land of Mystralia, after all, leaving our hero Zia to seek her fate by herself. Once she encounters...
Review Sphinx And The Cursed Mummy - A Bit Musty Due To Age, But Still Worth A Look
Mother may I
No one really remembers Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, which makes it rather odd property to raise from dead. Originally released on the GameCube back in the early 2000s, it came out during the renaissance for action platformers, with the likes of Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper and Jak & Daxter cementing PS2 as the place to be. Add...
Review When Ski Lifts Go Wrong - This Fiendish Physics Puzzler Is Snow Joke
Eddie the Eagle’s Bridge Constructor
Known as Carried Away in its early access PC guise, Hugecalf Studios’ renamed When Ski Lifts Go Wrong is a node-based physics puzzler that has you constructing chairlifts over terrain to get riders to a finish line in one piece. Questionable construction will cause your passengers to collide with obstacles or...
Review Smite - A Godly MOBA That Gives League Of Legends A Run For Its Money
Holier than thou
Following its success with Paladins: Champions of the Realm – which brought the team-based shooter genre to Switch with platform parity and solid performance – developer Hi-Rez Studios has now given its other big online hit the same handheld-friendly treatment. While Paladins has proved itself to be Overwatch’s only real...
Legacy issues
The JRPG has changed much over the years (or very little, depending on the developer), but back in the mid-to-late-’90s this very niche of genres produced a spate of classic instalments that helped define so many of its integral elements. The pre-rendered backgrounds. The polygonal character models. Interesting and layered characters...
Review Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics - Mixing Strategy And Horror To Mostly Good Effect
For the Love of the Craft
If there’s one group of historical nasties you can always rely on to invoke some of literature’s most eldritch nightmares, it’s the Nazis. From the pages of Hellboy to just about every Call of Duty in recent memory, those militarised fascists love dabbling in the occult, so it’s no great shock to see them teaming up...
Review Cursed Castilla EX - A Worthy Love Letter To The Side-Scrolling Classics Of Old
Knight life
Ports are nothing new on Nintendo Switch - in fact, a good proportion of the games that have arrived on the system over the last two years have been re-releases from other platforms - but sometimes a game getting another chance at success on another console is a cause for celebration. Cursed Castilla EX is one such example. It’s...
Review Fight Of Gods - A Comically Bad Crossover That Nobody Asked For
Blaspheme-'em-up
When it comes to selling a new fighting game series, it really helps to have that special something to help it stand out. When your game title doesn’t include the words ‘Street Fighter’, ‘BlazBlue’, ‘Tekken’ or ‘Mortal Kombat’, the success of your violent creation can often rest on that unique USP. Unfortunately,...
Review Pikuniku - A Small But Perfectly Formed Puzzle-Platformer That Literally Everyone Can Enjoy
Reasons to be cheerful
Dystopias – why do we love them so? We get more than our fair share of them in video games, but when the audience feels like they’re living in Blade Runner already, how do developers keep things feeling fresh? If you’re Sectordub, you ditch the grimy neon and rain for a primary-coloured 2D world and make your robots cute...
Review Lightseekers - Switch's First Great Competitive Card Game Is Here
Deck the halls
Dial back the clock a couple of years and Lightseekers was a very different prospect. British developer PlayFusion successfully took to Kickstarter with an idea that was both ahead of the curve and a little late to the party. A mobile RPG with toys-to-life figures that served as both talking playthings and controllers – including...
Dead on arrival
Horror has enjoyed quite the renaissance over the last few years, and that now synonymous first-person spin has helped up the realism and make the likes of Outlast: Bundle of Terror, Amnesia and even Resident Evil terrifyingly relevant once more. Of course, for every PT or Layers of Fear: Legacy there’s always going to be those...
Review Caveblazers - A Middle-Of-The-Road Roguelike That Ends Up In The Shadows
Not exactly blazing the trail
At this point in time, the “roguelike” indie game has become a trite and overused thing; there are more roguelikes out there now than any human could possibly have the time to play, and a lot of them don’t really do much to try separating themselves from the pack. Enter Caveblazers, a Spelunky-esque new roguelike...
Review Elli - A Charming Yet Scruffy 3D Platformer
Bumpy landing
We wouldn't exactly say that the 3D platformer has experienced a complete resurgence of late, but the likes of Yooka-Laylee and Spyro: Reignited Trilogy have certainly scratched a particular itch for faithful fans of the genre. And that's not even to mention the obvious example of Super Mario Odyssey, which is arguably the finest 3D...
Review YIIK: A Postmodern RPG - EarthBound For A New Generation
What if David Lynch made a turn-based RPG?
People have been waiting years for YIIK: A Postmodern RPG’s release. The game’s been in development since 2014, and you can go read interviews floating around from 2015 onward for more background on its journey. Finally, the big day is here... but can it live up to nearly a half-decade of anticipation?...
Review Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes - A Stylish Return For The Otaku Hitman
Everything IS awesome
We haven’t heard a peep from otaku assassin Travis Touchdown since he last graced our screens in 2010’s No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Brainchild of enigmatic industry figure Goichi ‘Suda51’ Suda, Travis cut a stylish swathe through Wii’s catalogue of casual fodder. That same infectious energy is alive and well...
Review Onimusha: Warlords - A Classic Action Title Gets Resharpened For Switch
Way of the blade
While Capcom is busy remaking the Resident Evil series’ first and most memorable entries, one of its lesser-known (or perhaps less commonly recalled) series is also getting the revival treatment. Sure, it's more of a HD rez-up than a full-blown recreation, but Onimusha: Warlords is a faithful port of a PS2 classic that benefits...
Review Octahedron: Transfixed Edition - Twitch Platforming In Yet Another Definitive Switch Port
Slave to the beat
First things first: Octahedron: Transfixed Edition’s soundtrack is stellar. It's a fusion of crunching basslines and techno breakdowns that marry perfectly with the neon aesthetic that makes every level of this 2D platformer. But it’s more than just a score to keep your head bobbing and your feet tapping. Every track has a BPM...
Review Everything - A Game Unlike Any Other, But It's Not For Everyone
Life, the Universe and Everything
Everything is a game about, well, everything. A universe of interconnected lifeforms, from cosmological constructs to the smallest of subatomic particles. Each and every object has a mind, and every mind is filled with thoughts. A flower muses that repetition is its only form of expression. A planet ponders on a...
Review Nippon Marathon - A Mildly Fun Multiplayer Romp That Grows Old Far Too Quickly
Run its course
Nippon Marathon is a lot like that one person at a party who thinks that the only way to gain popularity is to wear clothing that offends the eye and act all ‘wacky’, because being ‘random’ is definitely not another word for being a total bore. Onion Soup Interactive’s off-the-wall multiplayer racer certainly has a lot of...
Tummy trouble
When the Switch came out nearly two years ago, few would've expected that Nintendo would still be supporting the ageing 3DS with new first-party software as far as 2019, yet here we are. Picking up the ball that the Paper Mario series has long since dropped, the Mario & Luigi series of RPGs has been a celebrated mainstay of...
Review SEGA AGES Out Run - A Fantastic Update Of One Of Arcade Gaming's True Greats
The allure of the open road
Out Run is the greatest, most influential arcade racing game ever made. There, we said it. Yes, there have been other classics over the years: Daytona USA, Ridge Racer, Virtua Racing, Let’s Go! Jungle and the like. (Okay, maybe not that last one.) But no game has meant as much to the genre as Out Run. Back in 2015,...
Review Double Cross - An Enjoyable But Sadly Unmemorable Mega Man Clone
Sophomore slump
Back in darker times for Nintendo during the lifetime of the Wii U, the eShop was characterized by enormous content droughts where few worthwhile games were popping up between the major first-party releases. This opened plenty of space, however, for previously unknown indies to get a larger share of the spotlight, giving their...
Review Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition - An Aptly-Named Refresh Of A True JRPG Classic
Blastia from the past
If you’ve owned a console in the last two decades – and have a passing interest in Japanese RPGs – there’s a very good chance you’ve played at least one of the Tales games on your travels. There are so many entries (not counting the ludicrous number of spin-offs) it’s a surprise it’s taken this long for one to...
Review New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - Nintendo Plays It Safe With This Timely Reissue
Ultra Super Mario Bros. U: The Final Challengers
Ever since its debut on Nintendo DS way back in 2006, the ‘New’ branch of the Super Mario Bros. series has divided fans. As Nintendo transposed the 3D character-models of video games’ most treasured mascots back into the classic 2D realm, purists lambasted the ‘Disneyfication’ of the...
Review HoPiKo - Brutal Platforming Fun That Provides A Stern But Fair Challenge
HoPpiNg mad
Speedrunning has become the established way to wring a hardcore challenge out of even the most fluffy, easy-going of platformers. Getting through a level as quickly as possible will stretch your skills to the max in much the same way as a time trial run in Mario Kart. Developer Laser Dog understands this. In fact, the entire game of...
A Musou buffet
Thanks to its continued success, Switch now plays host to even the most niche of genres. In fact, less than two years into its lifecycle, the debut of the Dynasty Warriors franchise on the platform isn’t even the first ‘Musou’ game to appear in hybrid form; everything from The Legend of Zelda to One Piece has been given the...
Review Pang Adventures - A Welcome Update That Should Have Taken More Risks
Ball games
Back in the late ’80s, a Japanese studio called Mitchell Corporation – which had previously cut its teeth on motorcycle fighting game (Mad Motor) and a risque casino title (Poker Ladies) – decided to have a go at another increasingly popular genre: the action-puzzler. Originally made for arcades, Pang (or Buster Bros. as it was...
Review Super Hero Fight Club: Reloaded - A Pop-Culture Mash-Up That Frustrates And Thrills
Clubbed to death
Super Hero Fight Club: Reloaded knows exactly what it is. With tongue ready to burst from cheek, it happily pastiches all manner of popular characters from games, TV and film while slathering it all in enough neon and ’80s-style synth to make Nicolas Winding Refn green with envy. But beneath the satirical exterior lies a solo and...
Review Omega Strike - A Metal Slug-Style Metroidvania That Offers Throwaway Fun
Three's company
With so many games styled as ‘2D Metroidvania platformers’, any title hoping to make even the smallest of impact these days needs a USP that really makes it stand out from the crowd. A striking art style. An engaging and original story. New and innovative mechanics. Just something. Sadly, just being a decent and enjoyable...
Review Fitness Boxing - Rhythm Trappings Help This Limber Wii Fit Successor Land Its Punches
Wii Fit Trainer has left the building
As 2019 dawns and gamers the world over wake up after New Year celebrations, Fitness Boxing arrives in time to take advantage of resolutions to get in shape. From the moment it boots up, anyone who’s ever baulked at their BMI beside a frowning Mii or stamped an onscreen calendar following a daily workout will...
Review Donut County - A Sweet Little Puzzler In Need Of Extra Filling
Short, but sweet
The modern game industry seems to be obsessed with the idea of constantly pushing the higher limits of how much content can be packed into a game, with both AAA and indie developers constantly finding new ways of making games that are exhaustingly long. Often, this leads to inevitable repetitiveness - do we really need sixty...
Review Carcassonne - An Enjoyable But Imperfect Version Of A Board Game Classic
We built this city on part-time dough
The board game Carcassonne is undeniably one of the classics – the Medieval, landscape-building game has kept millions occupied over nearly two decades. The prospect of Carcassonne on the Switch had us very excited, but we found the final product only scores slightly better than an incomplete city. For those...
Review Koloro - A Capable Yet Ultimately Forgettable Puzzle-Platformer
Love in the time of Koloro
With so many titles on eShop – from tiny mobile curios to triple-A epics – being ‘good’ simply isn’t be good enough anymore; you need something unique or dazzling to stand out in the crowd. Set in the subconscious dreamworld of a young girl named Kora, Koloro is a one-button (or touch) puzzle-platformer. Morphed...
Review Uncanny Valley - A Commendable Take On Old-School Horror Let Down By Its Own Design
Who watches the (night)watchmen?
Horror, when done right, can be a truly wonderful thing to behold - especially in the interactive realm of video games. Find the right mechanics, marry them to a setup that sells its dark heart, and find a balance that doesn’t undersell or dilute its scares and building sense of dread. Uncanny Valley comes close in...
Review Mana Spark - Not Quite Heaven-Sent, But Still Worth A Look
The spark that lights the flame?
Mana Spark is a lovely little dungeon-crawling roguelike. The adventure takes place in a world where humanity is enslaved, its strength inferior to that of its captors due to the lack of Mana in human bodies. Mana is power itself, and whoever wields it grows stronger. But what if a band of rebels formed a hidden...
Review Battle Princess Madelyn - An Aimless Adventure Redeemed By Its Fantastic Arcade Mode
Girls ‘n Ghosts
Causal Bit Games founder Chris Obritsch loved playing Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, and his daughter Madelyn loved watching him. One day Madelyn explained that she wished she could be in the game but “girls can’t be knights”, so her dad decided to work with her to make a game in which she was the star, to show that girls can indeed be...
Review V-Rally 4 - A Bumpy Ride That Will Only Reward Dedicated Motorsport Fans
Its roots are showing
The Switch isn’t lacking when it comes to racing games, but there’s one particular subsection of the genre in which it’s been left wanting so far: rally games. The current king of rally in the gaming world is Codemasters, but it’s been slow to support the Switch and its first offering (coming in 2019) will be a port of...
Review Sundered: Eldritch Edition - An Enjoyable But Challenging Take On The Metroidvania Format
The Call of Cthulhu has been heard loud and clear
The work of H.P. Lovecraft had a significant impact on culture in both the literary and broader world, leading to the creation of the cosmic horror genre which focuses on a certain kind of fear related to unknowable, dark deities. Sundered: Eldritch Edition aims to capture the heart of what made...
Review Sheltered - The Last of Us Meets The Sims In This Tricky Game Of Resource Management
Nuclear family values
It’s always the way. You go to the trouble of having a family - then boom! - a nuclear holocaust comes along and forces you underground in an attempt to survive. Now the humdrum of daily life is replaced by a constant need to search the fallout-ridden surface for food and fuel while ensuring your loved ones don’t fall ill...
Review Atari Flashback Classics - This Dusty Collection Sadly Opts For Quantity Over Quality
Going old, old, old school
Usually, when it comes to retro gaming compilations we tend to see two schools of thought: quality or quantity. The former usually consist of a modest helping of games, but each is given lots of care and attention and supported with heaps of extra content. Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and the recent SNK 40th...
Review Aaero: Complete Edition - A Musical Marvel That Comes Close To Matching Rez's Greatness
It’s sweet like chocolate
Cast your mind back a generation or two, to the plastic instrument war. Guitar Hero and Rock Band were the biggest things in gaming, then all of a sudden the craze died and, just like that, the fun was over. Just as the light was flickering out, though, one final bright star appeared: DJ Hero. It was the work of UK...
Review Firewatch - There's No Smoke Without Fire In This Essential Indie Hit
If you go down to the woods today…
During the early days of Firewatch’s development, Washington-based indie studio Campo Santo made a point of speaking to real fire lookouts to get a sense of what it’s like to be stationed for months on the end, deep in a North American forest. “Why would you make a game out of this job?” some of their...
Review Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP - Short, Sweet But Perhaps Not For Everyone
A playable concept album
When done right, concept albums can represent the finest content that the music industry has to offer, tying together a set of songs into one continuous thematic experience that manages to be more than the sum of its parts. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an evolution of the concept album, weaving the tracks of a...
Poor harvest
These days, practically every possible kind of pastime, occupation and setting has a gaming equivalent. Take the simulation genre for instance; a place that’s packed with all manner of seemingly mundane concepts that have gamified to create some of the most bizarrely engrossing experiences you can play. Farming simulators have been...
